Microlending is now the buzz word in America when it comes to giving loans to entrepreneurs.  Kiva and Grameen Bank, two microfinance groups are well known for the support that they provide to small businesses operating in America and abroad.  Kiva, an international microlender, has already lent $150 million in 53 countries.  Grameen Bank, that has its foundation in Bangladesh, has lent $9.4 billion through over 2,500 of its branches worldwide.Branding itself as ‘Grameen America’ the bank has opened one branch in Omaha and four new branches in New York.

Microfinancing works with a mission to alleviate poverty and not just to make a profit.  Microlenders see the passion and commitment of applicants toward their businesses.  So, they insist loan recipients to attend workshops on marketing, business plans and money management to ensure their success.  Grameen also makes it mandatory for its borrowers to become a member of an entrepreneur’s group that conduct meetings every week.  It also makes it compulsory for borrowers to save at least $2 from their weekly income.

Kiva has helped 137 American companies receive $900,000 in loans, since its American debut.  Overseas the borrowers can get $3000 and in the US they can receive $ 10,000.  There are many examples of such recipients.  Ms Amanda Keppert, who runs Mandy’s Korner, a hot dog stand in San Jose, California, received a $6,500 loan from Kiva.  Her sales plunged 60 percent and she is convinced that her business would have collapsed if she had not received a micro loan.  Her loan carries a 6 percent interest rate and has three years payback time.  The pilot program, Opportunity Fund, that Ms. Keppert attended is available in California and New York now.  Premal Shah, President of Kiva says, “People talk about buying local — why not lend local?  It’s a personal stimulus package if you’re the working poor.”

Mr. Craig Adams wanted $50,000 loan for opening a restaurant and event space.  His long time bank turned him down on the pretext of his debt and then by a second bank.  He finally received a $15,000 loan with 12 percent interest from ‘Justine Petersen’, a microfinance group having its base in St. Louis. Mr. Adams says “It’s not the greatest way to go, but it’s the only way to go.”

Kiva works like a middleman, and has teamed up with microfinance groups, maintains a website www.kiva.org, where individual entrepreneurs’ profile and loan requests are uploaded. People then can lend money through a microlender to an entrepreneur.

Grameen Bank plans to open offices in Washington, Boston, San Francisco and Charlotte. N.C.   Grameen, helps people below the poverty line with first time loans of $1,500 having an interest rate of about 15 percent.

Biz2Credit has partnered with many microlenders as well, including ACCION and Seedco Financial to provide business owners in our network access to micro loans.

Apple Inc is planning to undergo a major expansion. The company that has products like the iPhone and the iPad is now targeting small business. They are planning to hire engineers in at least a dozen U.S retail stores to install Apple computer systems meant for small businesses.

This expansion makes sense given that there are already thousands of businesses that run on Apple products, the company has now focused on consumer and niche markets such as media firms and design. Apple wants to use the iPhone and iPad as selling points to leverage more expensive products like Macintosh computers and servers. It is using its 300 retail stores to reach out to local businesses. Apple is also recruiting from within the sales staff so as to form a specialized team to negotiate leasing and pricing terms for customers.

It is unlikely that Apple would be facing more competition from competitors like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. But Apple is eyeing the $310.8 billion that North American businesses are expected to spend on information technology this year. The figure will rise to $328.3 billion in the coming year. By capturing the sales, the annual revenue of Apple can grow up to 46% amounting to $62.6 billion in the current year. Brian Marshall, analyst in Gleacher & Co., says, “They’re well aware of the opportunities in business. This is something they’re focusing on even if they’re not talking about it publicly.”

A Virginia-based MacPro Solutions owner, Allen Cleaton, says, “Almost half of our new customers come from the Apple Store.” Cleaton can find local business as Apple’s general staff do not have the expertise to handle set up and maintenance of business computer networks. Apple just maintains an expert team for government agencies and big companies. As far as small and mid-sized businesses are concerned, it currently hands over responsibility to its retail stores. But now, Apple is updating its retail stores with conference rooms meant for meetings between sales team and higher echelons of business executives in order to equip their expansion plans.

Job seekers choosing to open their own businesses dropped to a record low, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago outplacement firm.

Just 3.7 percent of high-level job seekers exiting the program were starting new businesses down from 7.6 percent in the first half of 2009 and 9.6 percent in the second half of last year, according to a survey conducted by the company on July 19.

Experts suggest that an improving job market and the difficulty getting small business loans may be steering people away from entrepreneurship, said Business Week.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week that small businesses, and especially startups, are crucial to job growth and economic recovery. Bernanke once again called on banks to loosen credit to small businesses.

Some see the lower startup rate as a sign that the economy is improving. The unemployment rate is still high, but the private sector added 593,000 jobs in the first half of 2010, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Startup activity typically increases as the economy improves, Challenger CEO John Challenger said in a statement.

New data from payroll companies suggests that small businesses are slowly beginning to add employees, even as the most recent Labor Department report shows the unemployment rate held steady at just under 10 percent. Some economists believe these numbers indicate the recession is bottoming out.

Based on data gathered from Intuit’s online payroll service, companies with less than 20 employees have added jobs since June 2009, said Business Week Additionally, data from SurePayroll shows the average paycheck for workers at businesses with fewer than 100 employees has stabilized, said Business Week.

President Obama has put forth a number of measures intended to get people back to work, including tax incentives for businesses that hire new employees and pushing banks to free up more credit for small businesses.

John Bishop, a labor economist at Cornell University, told Business Week that temporary incentives like tax credits could create more than 2 million jobs in a year.
“It potentially has a huge effect, and small business would be the primary beneficiary of that,” Bishop told Business Week.

Small businesses should begin taking social networking more seriously, says a new study by Business.com.

The 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study shows how and where businesses and business people are using social media.

Some employers ban the use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, believing that they are simply time wasters. But the study points out that these sites can be a terrific resource for marketing, lead generation and increasing web site traffic. The study also touches on how businesses can use the video-sharing site YouTube and search engine optimization to their advantage.

In his blog on ContentMarketingToday.com,Newt Barrett gives six compelling reasons why you should jump on the social networking bandwagon now. He says that old-school marketing techniques don’t work as well anymore as more customers make buying decisions online. Online marketing, like creating a blog or Twitter feed, costs little or no money. And since many small businesses haven’t adopted social media, you can get a jump on the competition.

The Small Business Administration reminded disaster victims that they do not have to wait to settle with their insurance companies before applying for disaster loan assistance.

Specifically, victims of severe storms and flooding in Kentucky on Aug. 4, 2009, should return their completed loan applications as soon as possible, said an SBA press release. Homeowners, renters, businesses and non-profit organizations of all sizes in Jefferson County, Ky., are eligible to apply for SBA physical disaster loans.

Disaster loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property. Businesses and non-profit organizations of any size may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets, said the SBA.

Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial situation.

SBA representatives will be at Disaster Recovery Centers in the area to issue loan applications and answer questions. Click here for more information.